Drones with ground-penetrating radar used to search for Elliott

Elliott has been missing since the end of November 2023. His car, a dark grey Volvo Sedan S80, is seen as the key to finding him.
The organisation Missing People has now carried out a search mission with a drone equipped with ground-penetrating radar to search waters for the vehicle.

Missing people is preparing a drone flight in Skelleftehamn.

Missing people is preparing a drone flight in Skelleftehamn.

Foto: Glenn Fahlgren

Engelska2025-07-09 16:00

The mission targeted four areas of interest in Hortlax, Piteå, Jävre and Skelleftehamn. They are areas that are thought to have been accessible despite the snow storm of that November night when Elliott disappeared. 

– Together with the police we have gone through the areas that are most interesting. We have been looking for the areas where it has been easy to drive a car into the water, says Martin Persson, task leader at Missing people.

The Sunday search effort did not lead to any critical findings that required an additional search by boat. The technology means that it is possible to see structures and deviations on the bottom in real time and the method works well for finding metal objects. In order to get a more detailed picture you need to process the data collected.

The drone used in the search for Elliott is equipped with ground-penetrating radar. The Malå company Guideline Geo provides the radar and Håkan Petersson has built the drone.
The drone used in the search for Elliott is equipped with ground-penetrating radar. The Malå company Guideline Geo provides the radar and Håkan Petersson has built the drone.
Martin Persson, task leader at Missing people, by Sävenäs hamn outside of Skelleftehamn. The drone is methodically flown above the water along the waterfront in order to scan the area.
Martin Persson, task leader at Missing people, by Sävenäs hamn outside of Skelleftehamn. The drone is methodically flown above the water along the waterfront in order to scan the area.
Martin Persson, task leader at Missing people.
Martin Persson, task leader at Missing people.

It is among the first times this technology is used for this type of purpose. The drone team consisted of Håkan Petersson who piloted his self-constructed drone at the same time as Anders Abrahamsson checked the ground-penetrating radar. Anders has also carried out the post data analysis. 

This is the first trial run of the drone team. Even though Håkan and Anders have not even met before and never linked up the technology, the mission could be carried out and the technology worked.

– Searching through this area with divers would have been a massive job. We could search the area in just a few minutes, the drone pilot Håkan Petersson said.

– We could carry out effective searches with the ground-penetrating radar. In post-treatment you are able to see smaller variations in the images that we cannot see live, says Anders Abrahamsson who was responsible for the radar and post-treatment.

Anders Abrahamsson ran the ground-penetrating radar technology during the mission.
Anders Abrahamsson ran the ground-penetrating radar technology during the mission.
Håkan Petersson, drone enthusiast assisted with the flying machine and piloted the drone.
Håkan Petersson, drone enthusiast assisted with the flying machine and piloted the drone.

Missing people has been looking for Elliott with more than 20,000 kilometres of car searching, underwater drones, echo sounders and plane searches. The police has also used divers to look for Elliott. 

Martin Persson says that they try to think outside the box and work with new methods. One problem with the case is that there are no witness statements about the car, something that Martin Persson says is unusual.

On the Monday Martin Persson reported that the drone radar images had been analysed but that there were no hits that led to further investigations.

– We will now regroup, go through the efforts we have made and see if there’s anything we could’ve missed. We want to do what we can to find Elliott so that the family can have closure, Martin Persson says.

Facts

The areas that have been searched by drone

• Hortlax – Sandholmen

• Pitsundet – South of the Pitsundet bridge

• Jävre – Sandholmen

• Skelleftehamn – Sävenäs hamn

Got information?

At the time of his disappearance Elliott was wearing a grey hoodie and dark trousers.

Elliott’s car is a dark grey Volvo Sedan S80, 2005 model with a registration number starting with WFH.

The police has issued an alert for Elliott’s grey Volvo. Tips and observations can be reported to the police via 114 14.

Elliott's grey Volvo has been registered as missing by the police. Tips and observations can be reported to the police via 114 14.
Elliott's grey Volvo has been registered as missing by the police. Tips and observations can be reported to the police via 114 14.

Do you have any information? – contact the police at 114 14.